Interplanting grasses into alfalfa controls weeds in older stands

Abstract

Interplanting grasses into alfalfa effectively uses grass competition to reduce the amount of weeds in alfalfa hay. The increased production offsets a lower price for the hay content, making the alfalfa-grass hay equally profitable to alfalfa hay sprayed with herbicide. This technique avoids plant-back restrictions from use of some herbicides. Alfalfa weevil populations can be reduced below threshold levels, providing additional benefit from the technique. The percentage of growers interplanting did not change but nearly half of the 24% of growers using interplanting are new users of the technique. Cooperative Extension was viewed as the most useful source for interplanting information by 64% of farmers surveyed.